San Diego, CA
El Cajon crisis unit opens, bringing county’s total to eight
San Diego County opened its eighth crisis stabilization unit in El Cajon on Monday, providing the same short-term resource for East County residents that has helped relieve pressure on hospital emergency departments in communities to the north and south.
The newest facility replaces a former county assessor’s satellite office at South Magnolia and West Douglas avenues, near the city’s community center and library.
The El Cajon $28 million crisis unit has 12 recliners and a freshly renovated space for private consultation, accommodating residents in need of immediate mental health services for up to 24 hours.
Pioneered in a handful of local hospitals, the county began opening stand-alone crisis units in Vista and Oceanside in 2021 and 2022. The pair of locations were a direct response to Tri-City Medical Center closing its behavioral health unit and crisis center in 2018, citing the need for prohibitively expensive repairs and difficulties with staffing.
Another unit attached in Chula Vista, attached to Bayview Hospital, a behavioral health facility, opened in 2023 with an additional unit attached to the emergency department at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in March.
Nadia Privara-Brahms, the county’s behavioral health director, said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning that the heavy investment in crisis centers has drastically reduced mental health care visits to local emergency departments. County data for the 2024-25 budget year estimates that 11,000 adults treated at crisis stabilization units were diverted from inpatient care and 14%, approximately 1,800, were connected to inpatient care.
“Countywide, we have seen that this model of care is working,” Privara-Brahms said. “Across the CSUs locally, we saw 85% of admissions diverted from inpatient care.”
County Supervisor Joel Anderson, whose district includes most of East County, kept the pressure on for a center to the east capable of delivering the same kind of results.
“Right now, many of these folks end up in our emergency rooms, and they’re getting great service at the highest cost,” Anderson said.
Emergency departments, he added, can only do so much to focus on providing mental health care when they must also treat the full range of other medical needs from heart attacks and strokes to broken bones and chronic disease.
“Here, we’re laser-focused on that mental health, and we’ll be able to turn people around, stabilize them, and send them home,” Anderson said.
A key innovation with stand-alone crisis units has been the ability of law enforcement officers and crisis response team members to deliver residents picked up on 5150 holds for evaluation, skipping emergency departments when a patient needs mental health care, but not other services. A 5150 hold occurs when a first responder suspects that a person may be a danger to themselves or others or gravely disabled.
Because all emergency departments must operate on a triage basis, continuously moving the most-critical cases to the front of the line regardless of how long those with less-immediate medical problems have been waiting, 5150 holds are notorious for their ability to take first responders off their beats for hours per incident.
The county’s data tracking system indicates that drop-offs at crisis units take 20 to 25 minutes, contributing significantly to getting law enforcement officers and crisis team members back in service much more quickly than was previously the case.
NASCAR will honor the 250th birthday of the United States and the US Navy’s 250th anniversary with a race brand new to the racing calendar.
The Anduril 250 will take place on a road course built on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California. The 3.4-mile track has 19 turns. The race is 255 miles total and drivers will do 75 laps.
Shane van Gisbergen, who is widely considered to be NASCAR’s best road course driver, will start in pole position. van Gisbergen has won seven road races in 14 total starts, and he is just two road wins away from tying Jeff Gordon’s record of nine.
nascar anduril 250: what to know
- When: June 21, 4 p.m. ET
- Where: Coronado Street Course (Naval Base Coronado, San Diego, California)
- Channel: Streaming exclusive
- Streaming: Prime Video (30 days free)
Here’s everything you need to know about today’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Coronado Street Course.
NASCAR Cup race at San Diego start time:
Today’s (June 21) NASCAR race, the Anduril 250, begins at 4 p.m. ET.
What channel is today’s (June 21) NASCAR race on?
Today’s NASCAR race won’t be on traditional television; it will air exclusively on Prime Video.
How to watch the NASCAR Anduril 250 for free:
With Prime Video, you can also take advantage of the streamer’s Shop the Race storefront, exclusively on the Amazon mobile app, to shop gear, flags, and more for your favorite driver.
NASCAR San Diego starting lineup:
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Carson Hocevar
- Ryan Blaney
- Zane Smith
- Todd Gilliland
- Daniel Suárez
- Ryan Preece
- Connor Zilisch
- Michael McDowell
- Austin Hill
- Ty Gibbs
- Bubba Wallace
- Corey Heim
- Kyle Larson
- AJ Allmendinger
- Chris Buescher
- Tyler Reddick
- Austin Dillon
- Joey Logano
- Alex Bowman
- Kevin Magnussen
- Chase Briscoe
- Ross Chastain
- Riley Herbst
- Cole Custer
- Denny Hamlin
- William Byron
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Brad Keselowski
- Chase Elliott
- Austin Cindric
- Noah Gragson
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ty Dillon
- Josh Berry
- Jimmie Johnson
- Christopher Bell
- Erik Jones
- Cody Ware
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Shane van Gisbergen earned his sixth career pole and second of the 2026 season on Saturday, rocketing to pole position around NASCAR’s all-new 3.4-mile street course at Naval Base Coronado. He even touched the wall twice on his fast lap, pushing to the absolute limit.
“A little bit (surprised),” said Van Gisbergen, who went out with the first group of qualifiers. “I thought the track would be better, and I thought people would execute a bit better. As I said, it’s just so difficult. There’s three or four corners you’re seeing for the first time of the day, and it’s on your heater. Amazing. The Red Bull Chevy is really good. Thank you to Trackhouse for doing a great job from yesterday, and we just need to get the driver a bit better,” he concluded with a smile.”
Watch: SVG surprised to win Busch Light Pole at San Diego
Van Gisbergen bested Carson Hocevar by 0.0156s with a fast lap of 2:14.788s. Ryan Blaney will start third, Zane Smith fourth, and Todd Gilliland fifth. Blaney was a little bit quicker than SVG for most of his lap, but lost it through the final set of corners.
Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell, and Austin Hill will out the remainder of the top ten on the starting grid.
Project 91 driver Kevin Magnussen qualified 21st for his NASCAR Cup debut. Notably, championship leader Tyler Reddick spun out, but still reached 17th on the grid. Denny Hamlin is just 19 points behind him, and will start 26th.
Watch: Reddick loops it in Turn 2 during qualifying
Some other notable drivers very deep in the field include William Byron in 27th, Chase Elliott 30th, and an injured Christopher Bell 37th. He will have Brent Crews on standby, and may finish the race for Bell on Sunday.
Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to set a time, and showed just how tricky things were as he had to use the runoff area in Turn 2 to avoid an incident. Erik Jones also smacked the wall at the exit of Turn 16, but there were no red flags during the session.
NASCAR Cup San Diego ‘Anduril 250’ Full Starting Lineup
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